Gazprom

Gazprom is a Russian gas company, which supplies approximately one quarter of Europe's gas needs.

Gazprom's PR
In 2006 Gazprom cut off gas supplies to the Ukraine in 2006 and took similar action against Belarus in 2007.

In April 2006 the Financial Times reported that the Russian government signed a multi-million dollar deal with the Washington office of the PR company Ketchum and its Brussels-based sibling, GPlus Europe. The Financial Times reported that the contract is "to improve the presentation of Russia's presidency of the Group of Eight leading nations." In the U.S. U.S. Republican Senator from Arizona, John McCain, criticized the decision in January by the Russian government controlled company, Gazprom, to cut off gas supplies to the Ukraine.

The deputy press attaché to Mr Putin, Dmitry Peskov, told the Financial Times that Russia's 12-month presidency stint of the G8 "didn't get off to a good start on the communications front." "Perhaps if we had already been working then with some kind of communications company things would have been different," he said.

In January 2007 Kommersant reported that Gazprom Export, a subsidiary of Gazprom, was negotiating with a consortium comprising the PBN Company, Hill & Knowlton and the polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates for a three-year contract worth $11 million. "In the West, Gazprom is closely associated with the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his political circle. The company wants to position itself differently," an anonymous source said. The Kremlin is also considering another PR and lobbying campaign to boost its credibility in the West. Short-listed firms include Patton Boggs, Hogan & Hartson, Weber Shandwick, Burson Marsteller, Barbour Griffith & Rogers, Ruder Finn and Hill & Knowlton.

The following month Radio Free Europe reported that Russia had launched "a series of public relations events" designed to enhance the image of Vladimir Putin regime, the Russian gas company Gazprom, and the country's intelligence and military forces.